A deputy with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office was justified when he shot and wounded an armed man in Norridgewock in 2021, a report by the Office of the Maine Attorney General has found.
Trever A. Caouette Somerset County Sheriff’s Office
The attorney general’s report concluded that Deputy Michael Lyman “reasonably believed” that Trevor A. Caouette posed an “imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death” during the early morning incident on March 26, 2021. Caouette, 27, of Skowhegan, ignored at least two commands to drop a 9 mm Glock and instead continued pointing the pistol at responding officers as he walked toward them, according to the report.
“Mr. Caouette’s gun was aimed at the officers for over a minute before Deputy Lyman fired at Mr. Caouette,” according to the report, which is dated Sept. 22 and was released Friday, Dec. 1. “All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Deputy Lyman acted in defense (of himself and another deputy) … at the time he used deadly force.”
Following the shooting, Caouette was treated and released from the hospital, and charged with two counts of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.
The shooting occurred on Mechanic Street in downtown Norridgewock while deputies were investigating a reported vehicle crash.
Caouette’s fiancée had called 911 at 12:40 a.m. to report the man was intoxicated, had a 9 mm Glock handgun and was possibly driving around the “Norridgewock loop.” Shortly after that, a pair of calls came in to Somerset County dispatchers reporting a truck crash on Skowhegan Road.
Deputy Lyman responded and found the red truck crashed about 60 feet off the road in the woods, but Caouette was not there. Other officers arrived with a police dog to track Caouette’s scent. Meanwhile, another sheriff’s deputy spotted Caouette at a Cumberland Farms store parking lot, at the intersection of routes 2 and 139 in Norridgewock. Police descended on the scene, as did Caouette’s fiancée, who confronted and argued with him.
Police converged on Mechanic Street near the Cumberland Farms store in Norridgewock on March 26, 2021, after Trevor A. Caouette was shot and injured by responding officers. A state investigation has found police were justified in shooting Caouette because he ignored commands to stop pointing a handgun at them. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel file
Caouette then pulled out the gun and started walking down the middle of nearby Mechanic Street.
A sheriff’s office cruiser camera “shows Mr. Caouette walking towards the officers, both hands extended with a pistol pointing in their direction,” the report states. Lyman fired two shots at Caouette after he ignored commands to drop his gun.
Caouette was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He pleaded guilty July 21, 2021, to two Class C charges of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to nine months in prison. Online records for the state’s Department of Corrections show Caouette has since been released.
Lyman is still working at the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, according to Sheriff Dale Lancaster.
Also on Friday, the attorney general’s office released a separate report on a shooting that occurred earlier this year in the Penobscot County town of Alton. In that case, a review of the May 26 incident found that Corporal Blaine Silk of the Maine State Police was justified when he shot and injured Djvan Carter, 46, of Milford, after the man attempted to run the officer over with a vehicle.
The attorney general’s office has released 13 reports on police shootings this year, regarding incidents since 2019. All found the use of deadly force was justified.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
